Fair Housing Act: What Sellers Need To Know
Housing Equality, Always Building Communities
Ideally, you would like the next owner of your beloved home to be someone who enjoys the neighborhood and loves the pool in the backyard as much as you do. The questions people assume are innocent may actually be instances of discrimination when it comes to home buying. It is important that you are aware of the Fair Housing Act real estate provisions if you are going to avoid unintentional discrimination in the process. Learn more about the FHA here.
How Does The Fair Housing Act Protect You?
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, national origin, or familial status and is enforced by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). You should also be aware that some states have their own laws that may include age or gender identity as part of the eligibility criteria, so make sure to check the laws in your state before applying. Home purchase discrimination is prohibited under the Fair Housing Act, which applies to sales, leases, or rentals of housing. Among them are:
- Refusing to sell your home to an individual
- Differentiate sales prices based on the buyer
- A house is falsely denied as being available
- Any wording in your marketing that indicates a preference or limitation
- Different criteria are used to evaluate an offer from a certain person
- Discouragement to buy your property otherwise
If someone feels their inclusion in a protected class negatively influenced a decision, the FHA website offers additional information about what constitutes discrimination.
Fair Housing Provider
Those who work in the selling, renting, or leasing of a property are considered fair housing providers under the FHA. In addition to these groups, there are others who must ensure they are following the law:
- Homeowners
- Owners or managers of properties
- Providers of mortgages, such as lenders
- Licensed real estate agents
- Associations of condominiums
These rules apply more to landlords and property managers than to sellers, although there are a few kinds of people who are exempt. A landlord who rents 3 or fewer homes without the help of a realtor is one example.
The Fair Housing Act: How Does It Work?
There were 31,202 complaints of housing discrimination filed by individuals in 2019, the most since the National Fair Housing Alliance started publishing its annual Fair Housing Trends Report in 1995.
The marketing industry is one of those areas where it is easy to violate the law inadvertently. The following words and phrases should be avoided when describing your home: “couples,” “bachelor pad,” “seniors,” or “near a church.”
Potential buyers often submit a “love letter” along with their offer, which is another area where you should proceed with caution. Possibly, they will celebrate Christmas with their family in the comfortable bonus room, or move an elderly aunt into the master bedroom downstairs. It would be legally permissible for others who made an offer on the house, for example, to claim they were discriminated against because they do not celebrate Christmas if you selected a buyer based on one of these letters. Furthermore, if you decide to accept another buyer’s offer, the letter writer could claim you excluded their offer based on their information.
The letters may not be worth reading, so you won’t be swayed by one over the other. You should instead focus on the terms of the offer, such as the price, contingencies, whether the buyer is preapproved, and other financial considerations. In spite of the fact that it may be difficult to prove discrimination, you may be in a risky situation as a gray area that is likely best avoided in order to avoid running afoul of laws protecting new home buyers.
What is the Fair Housing Act's approach to discrimination?
It is possible to file a complaint with the local HUD office or online if a potential buyer believes that the seller violated the FHA. An investigation will be conducted by the agency once the complaint has been filed and if a violation of the law has been committed by the seller will be determined.
As the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June 2015, discrimination is illegal regardless of whether it was intentional. In other words, even if you didn’t mean any harm, you may be in violation of the law.
Despite the buyer’s request, describing your neighbors or mentioning crime is a possible fair housing violation. It might be interesting for them to find out what the neighbors are like, so you can say something general like “I have enjoyed living here,” and suggest that they knock on some doors to meet some neighbors. Alternatively, you can refer them to the local school district’s website if they want to know about the quality of the schools. You won’t inadvertently say something that could be misinterpreted if you direct them to sources where they can obtain the information themselves.